Who Wudda thot?

The Count of Monte Cristo was black? LINK
link2

Gen. Alexandre Dumas, the son of a black slave who led more than 50,000 men at the height of the French Revolution and then stood up to the megalomaniacal Corsican in the deserts of Egypt. (The "famous" Alexandre Dumas is the general's son – the author of The Three Musketeers.) Letters and eyewitness accounts show that Napoleon came to hate Dumas not only for his stubborn defense of principle but for his swagger and stature – over six feet tall and handsome as a matinee idol – and for the fact that he was a black man idolized by the white French army. (I found that Napoleon's destruction of Dumas coincided with his destruction of one of the greatest accomplishments of the French Revolution – racial equality – a legacy he also did his best to bury.)

wikipedia link

Napoleon's invasion of Egypt is often praised for opening the archeology (and looting) of that country, but I it seems the locals opposed him, Nelson destroyed his fleet, and when he skedaddled back to Europe, he arranged the sick left behind to be killed by their doctors.

But I don't remember anyone mentioning General Dumas, who clashed with Napoleon and went home (and was shipwrecked, ending up in a dungeon for two years, hence inspiring the Count of Monte Cristo).


and one of his first assignments was to the uprising in the Vendee.. a little covered genocide of those who revolted against the persecution/takeover of the Catholic faith (hence the massacres are ignored...the Wikipedia article insists they were too ignorant to understand the wonderfulness of the revolution of reason)... the podcast insists he tried to stop the over killing of the innocent (i.e. those not really soldiers) and given his stubbornness and willingness to oppose authorities this is probably true, although he was arrested for refusing to do risky military maneuvers not for defending civilians, one suspects that his dislike of murdering civilians might be one reason that his military judgement was interpreted as "treason", not a difference of opinion.

more HERE

he clashed with Napolean's megalomania, which is why  he left Egypt, only to be captured by anti French groups in Italy when they were shipwrecked.